1947: The Transistor

Videos

Audio

The transistor, more than any other single development, made possible the
marriage of computers and communication. Three AT&T Labs researchers - John
Bardeen, William Shockley, and Walter Brattain - shared the Nobel Prize for
their 1947 invention of this tiny, reliable, electronic
component.

In the years following its creation, the transistor
gradually replaced the bulky, fragile vacuum tubes that had been used to
amplify and switch signals. The transistor - and the eventual creation of
integrated circuits that contained millions of transistors - served as the
foundation for the development of modern electronics.